Cubs march to Milwaukee, widen lead in NL Central

Some Chicagoans tend to think of Wisconsin as an extension of their back-yard patio—a place to go and relax for a few days every summer to escape the daily stresses of big-city life.

A trip to Wrigley Field North is often part of the Wisconsin getaway, as thousands of road-tripping Cubs fans take over Miller Park for a few days every year and call it their home away from home.

While Brewers fans took their own stadium back on Monday, outnumbering their counterparts for the first time in recent memory, the Cubs came back to post a 6-4 win in the opener of the four-game series, moving two games ahead of Milwaukee in the National League Central.

"From a fans' standpoint, it was a playoff atmosphere, the way they responded to things that were happening on the field," Cubs manager Lou Piniella said. "Pretty good way to start a July series."

A crowd of 45,311, the third-largest in the brief history of Miller Park, got their money's worth and more in a back-and-forth affair that saw each team blow late leads.

In the end, it was Derrek Lee's opposite-field, run-scoring double off Brewers closer Salomon Torres that snapped a 4-4 tie in the ninth, giving the Cubs first blood in the series.

Mark DeRosa added an insurance run with an RBI infield hit, and Carlos Marmol closed it out with a scoreless ninth, giving Chad Gaudin his second win in as many games.

"This is fun," Cubs starter Ted Lilly said. "This is what baseball is all about. What's amazing is that even though it's only the end of July, it's fun, it's intense, it's good baseball."

Lilly pitched well for five innings in a taut duel with CC Sabathia, staked to a 2-0 lead on Lee's RBI single in the first and Alfonso Soriano's solo homer in the third. But the Brewers bounced back in the sixth with back-to-back homers by J.J. Hardy and Ryan Braun and a run-scoring double by Corey Hart.

The Cubs loaded the bases against Sabathia with one out in the seventh before Lee hit a potential rally-killing double-play grounder to short. But Reed Johnson's hard slide into second forced Rickie Weeks to make an errant throw to first, allowing the tying and go-ahead runs to score.

"When I'm in that situation, I always tell myself to follow the ball," Johnson said. "If the ball is hit to the left, you slide to the left side of the bag. If it's hit to the right, you slide to the right side. That way you try to beat the middle infielder to his spot. And I was able to get in there and get a good piece of it."

The lead was short-lived, as Bob Howry served up a two-out homer to Russell Branyan in the bottom half of the seventh to make it 4-4.

Gaudin picked the Cubs back up by striking out three in the eighth, and after Torres issued back-to-back walks to Soriano and Mike Fontenot with one out in the ninth, Lee delivered the go-ahead double.

Marmol struck out the first two men he faced before walking Jason Kendall, but he eventually posted his fifth save by getting Gabe Kapler to fly to left.

Piniella said Marmol "made me nervous" with the walk. Marmol said Soriano "scared" him with his little hop before the catch on Kapler's fly.

On this night in Wisconsin, no one could relax until the very last out.